Matt Boyle OBE, chairman of the North East Automotive Alliance (NEAA), has been appointed engineering professor at Newcastle University.
Managing director of Collingwood Solutions, Matt is a former president and chief executive of North East electric vehicle firm, Sevcon.
With a wealth of experience and impressive credentials within the UK power electronics, machines and drives sector, Matt will assist the university in its role as national lead for the Driving the Electric Revolution Innovation Centre project.
Paul Butler, chief executive of the North East Automotive Alliance, said: “I congratulate Matt and Newcastle University on this appointment. We at the NEAA know only too well that, as our chairman, Matt has been a driving force for innovation within our sector. Matt is a leading national influencer and advisor on electrification. It is crucial that we capitalize on our inherent strengths in electrification and through academic research within our universities we develop nationally significant research programmes, linked to industry challenges and needs. This will bring more public sector research funding to the North East, attract more students to the region, support the Governments levelling up agenda and ultimately establish the region as a true automotive powerhouse”.
Alongside, Paul Butler, and Ryan Maughan, Matt forms EV North, initially launched as the NEAA Electrified Powertrain Technologies Group, in its aim to support advances in new technology across the region, particularly in powertrain electrification.
Chaired by Ryan Maughan, EV North is an important step in supporting the North East’s transition to become a true automotive powerhouse and a location of choice for automotive investment in Europe.
Matt Boyle, said: “The UK and the North East in particular have been at the forefront of electrification for decades. Go back to Smiths Electric Vehicles all the way through to Sevcon, EV North and the Nissan Leaf the North East is a leader in manufacturing, investment and exploitation of electrification. It is also a major developer of the technologies needed to address climate change. I see my role at Newcastle University as helping to coalesce the research, development and the manufacturing of electrification technologies for the sectors that need to decarbonize.”